Israel Launches Offensive in Gaza Strip

1. Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on July 8. Israel launched an offensive against Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, bombing some 50 targets in a campaign meant to end Palestinian rocket fire.

Said Khatib / AFP - Getty Images

2. Palestinians inspect a damaged building after an Israeli military strike in Gaza City on July 8.

Mahmud Hams / AFP - Getty Images

3. Palestinian boys inspect the wreckage of a car belonging to a member of the Islamist Hamas movement following an Israeli air strike on July 8 in the Gaza strip town of Khan Yunis. Israel was weighing "all options" in a new drive to stamp out Hamas rocket fire as the two sides slid toward another major conflict.

4. Palestinians carry the body of Mohammed Shaban, a senior Hamas militant, during his funeral in Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip, on July 8. Shaban was one of four Hamas militants killed Tuesday when an air strike hit the car they were traveling in, Hamas officials said.

Adel Hana / AP

5. A Palestinian woman reacts outside her home after a deadly strike on their house on July 8 in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip. Hamas said that "all Israelis" would be targeted after a deadly strike on a house in the southern city of Khan Yunis killed seven people, among them two teenagers. Medics said another 25 people were wounded in the strike.

Said Khatib / AFP - Getty Images

6. An Israeli Apache helicopter shoots a missile over the Gaza Strip as seen from Israel's border with Gaza on July 8.

7. Smoke rises after an attack of Israeli strikes in Gaza City on July 8.

Mohammed Saber / EPA

8. A Palestinian woman inspects her house which police said was damaged in an Israeli air strike on a neighboring house in Gaza City on July 8. Israel launched an aerial offensive in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, calling it part of a campaign named "Operation Protective Edge" targeting Hamas Islamist militants firing rockets at the Jewish state. The military urged Israelis within a 24-mile radius of the southern coastal territory to stay within reach of protected areas and ordered summer camps shut as a precaution against rocket fire.

Mohammed Salem / Reuters

9. Israeli soldiers stand on Merkava tanks in an army deployment area near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip on July 8.